(Champion rework) Syndra, the Dark Sovereign

Contents

Small Introduction

This is a tentative rework for Syndra, the Dark Sovereign. Most values such as damage and cooldown are placeholder, suggest better values if you wish, or ignore them.

Short Version

Skip it if you want to read the whole thing.

Passive: Dark Sphere moved to the passive ability slot and can be cast via left-click. Uses the stockpiling mechanic similar to Missile Barrage. Damage rescaled. Spheres last 10 seconds, up from 6. Syndra's other abilities will destroy any Dark Spheres they "used up", e.g. if you throw a sphere with W or E it will disappear after dealing damage.

New Q: Syndra surrounds herself will all active Dark Spheres and can recast Q to toss them, one at a time, as a linear collision skillshot, or toss them all at once by casting the new R. The three dark spheres orbiting the live Syndra are removed.

W does less damage, costs less mana, doesn't slow, has lower CD and higher grab and toss ranges.

E can be cast at a single Dark Sphere out of the normal cast range of 800 (but within 1100 range) to send it 400 units away from Syndra, applying a decaying 99% slow for 1.5 seconds instead of stunning.

R knocks up the target enemy champion and deals damage. During the knockup, if Syndra has Q activated, it's possible to reactivate R to cast all Dark Spheres at the target, but they are not guaranteed to hit (can collide with any other enemy units in their path, or if you recast it too late the target can flash out).

Long Version

After Veigar's buff and some nerfs to Syndra she took quite a few steps down in the tier list, outclassed in just about every matter, except for early game lane pressure which barely means anything with her early damage gutted so hard. I feel like Syndra should be different from Veigar in two ways - having more, uh, "control" over what's going on, and having better outplay options.

The main change here is that Dark Sphere is moved to innate and you have to decide how to use those spheres with your other abilities. You do have more spheres to work with, but you need fast and good decision-making.

Should you hold onto your spheres and mana, or, perhaps, put some spheres on the ground so you have more "ammo" for Q?

Do you go for the cheap but good passive + W pokes, or for the big and risky Q barrage?

Should you set up "mines" to damage and slow anyone that comes near from up to 1400 range, or hold onto the spheres you might need for a fight?

Abilities

Dark Sphere

RANGE: 800

COST: 12+Syndra's level Mana

COOLDOWN: 3

Active: Left-click anywhere on the ground within the cast range to cast Dark Sphere. Dark Spheres now last 10 seconds instead of 6. I would like to assume this innate won't harm normal interactions with the minimap, Dark Passage and Abyssal Voyage. This innate is considered a spell for all purposes such as Sheen, Force Pulse and effects that forbid spell casting.

Magic Damage per Sphere: ? / ? (+ 20% AP)

Max spheres: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

Syndra stockpiles one Dark Sphere every 5 seconds, affected by CDR, and can hold up to 1\2\3\4\5\6 (levels 1\4\7\10\13\16) at any time.Syndra's other abilities will destroy any Dark Spheres they "used up", e.g. if you throw a sphere with W or E it will disappear after dealing damage.

Dark Sphere has no cast time and does not interrupt Syndra's previous orders.

Dark Sphere can be conjured inside terrain, but can't be thrown with Force of Will.

Call/Throw

RANGE:Global / 750

COST: 30 + 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 per sphere tossed Mana

COOLDOWN: 10 (+ 3 / 2.75 / 2.5 / 2.25 / 2 per sphere tossed)

Active: Syndra surrounds herself will all active Dark Spheres (similar to the R animation where all spheres are assembled around Syndra before they're sent at the opponent) and resets their duration to 10 seconds. During the next 10 seconds she can toss them, one at a time, in the target direction as a linear collision skillshot. The initial cast requires at least one active Dark Sphere, and the ability goes on cooldown upon tossing the last sphere. Cooldown between tosses is 0.5 seconds. Unused spheres will expire. The three dark spheres orbiting the live Syndra are removed.

Any enemy Teleports on a grabbed target will be cancelled when the unit goes into stasis, going on full cooldown.

Casting Teleport on Syndra herself will cause her to cancel Force of Will and drop anything she is holding.

Enemy pets that passively have an effect on their surroundings will continue to affect the area around them while they are being held. For example, Tibbers will continue to inflict burn damage on surrounding units while in stasis.

Grabbing a Dark Sphere will cause the duration on it to refresh, but only on the first cast, not when it is thrown.

Force of Will has additional effects when targeting the Ancient Golem and Lizard Elder. Throwing the former will refund 10 mana to Syndra upon cast and will reduce the cooldown of Force of Will by 1 second, while throwing the latter will apply the Blessing of the Lizard Elder burn to any affected units in the area of effect.

Scatter the Weak

RANGE:700 / 1100

SPEED: 2500

COST: 50 Mana

COOLDOWN: 18 / 16.5 / 15 / 13.5 / 12

Active: On ground cast or enemy cast - same as live.

Magic Damage: 70 / 115 / 160 / 205 / 250 (+ 40% AP)

Can be cast at any single Dark Sphere out of 700 range to send it 400 units away from Syndra, dealing reduced damage and applying a decaying slow instead of a stun.

Launched Dark Spheres that successfully strike an enemy will grant sight on that enemy for the duration of the stun.

Spheres knocked back by Scatter the Weak travel do not travel a set distance. The closer a Sphere is to Syndra, the further it will travel when hit by Scatter the Weak, however every sphere hit will travel to the same distance from Syndra.

Telekinetic Crush

RANGE: 660 + 5 per level

COST: 100 Mana

COOLDOWN: 100 / 90 / 80

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Active: Syndra knocks the target enemy champion airborne and deals magic damage to them. If she had Q activated, she can recast R during the knock-up to send all Dark Spheres directly at the target. The spheres are not guaranteed to hit, as they might collide with any other enemy units in their path, and it's possible to dodge them after the knockup expires if Syndra threw them too late.